Lives lost: Remembering Lac-Mégantic’s victims

Marian Scott, The Gazette12.04.2013

Lac-Mégantic victim Geneviève Breton

Hélène Draper lays a cross that reads “we will never forget” and some flowers outside Ste-Agnès church in Lac-Mégantic, about 100 kilometres east of Sherbrooke Saturday July 13, 2013, where an a train carrying crude oil exploded after derailing.Vincenzo D'Alto
/ The Gazette

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LAC-MÉGANTIC — At the supermarket checkout, in the coffee shop, on the front steps of the massive Catholic church, residents are sharing their stories.

Stories of loved ones and friends who until that fateful July night strolled the streets of this usually idyllic lakeside town.

But they won't be seen again, and that reality is now hitting home for the 6,000 residents of Lac-Mégantic.

The official death toll has risen to 47.

Authorities have positively identified 22 victims and made 17 of those names public after notifying the next of kin. The first to be identified was Éliane Parenteau-Boulanger, 93, a former supermarket owner who lived on Vétérans Blvd., near the train tracks.

Other names will be released in the hours and days ahead, once relatives have been informed.

But in this close-knit community where news travels fast — with or without a high-speed Internet connection — relatives, friends and neighbours have already begun to grieve for the 50 residents presumed lost.

"We're going to see which customers will still come in and which ones won't come anymore," said Micheline Couture, 47, whose tears were never far from the surface as she tended the cash at the Boni-Soir convenience store on Laval St., near the downtown core devastated by Saturday's inferno.

Retired high-school teacher Gilles Leblanc, 66, shook his head in disbelief as he discussed the tragedy with store manager Jocelyn Breault. "It hurts to see how much of our beautiful youth we've lost," he said.

"Here, everyone knows everyone. It's a big family."

Breault, 50, rushed to the scene of the disaster early Saturday morning to see if he could help but was driven back by the intense heat.

"The fire was making an incredible roar," he said. "I heard cries. Is it possible that a human being can cry so loudly?"

The cries of people caught by the flames stay with him, Breault said. "I will never forget that."

Breault, who lost a close friend and a cousin in the disaster, said residents need to share their stories and stick together to get through it.

"Let's make Lac-Mégantic an example, so that this never happens again," he said.

The Gazette has compiled sketches of the missing and we will publish them on our website and print editions in the coming days.

*******

The Gazette has compiled sketches of the missing.

Éliane Parenteau-Boulanger, 93

Always well-coiffed and smartly dressed, Madame Boulanger, as local residents call her, was for many years the owner of a local IGA supermarket in downtown Lac-Mégantic. A widow, she lived alone in the house on Vétérans Blvd., near the train tracks, where she had lived for decades. Parenteau was the first victim to be positively identified and named by the coroner’s office.

Diane Bizier, 46

Diane Bizier, who worked on the assembly line at the local Masonite door factory, was out for the evening at the Musi-Café with her boyfriend, Guy Ouellet. Half an hour before the train derailed about 1:15 a.m., Ouellet decided to call it a night but Bizier stayed on. She died in the inferno that engulfed the bar. Bizier, who was about 50 and often spent Friday evenings at the popular night spot, is remembered as sunny and easy-going. She leaves a 17-year-old daughter, Mégane Turcotte, and 19-year-old son, Billy.

Guy Bolduc, 43

Popular folk and rock chansonnier Guy Bolduc had just finished playing a set with veteran musician Yvon Ricard at Le Musi-Café in downtown Lac-Mégantic when the train derailed and exploded. Ricard was spared because he was outside and could flee the flames while Bolduc remained inside the bar. He is presumed dead. Originally from Quebec’s Saguenay region, Bolduc was married with two children. Fellow musician and best friend Guy Lachapelle started a tribute Facebook page in Bolduc’s memory: “To the one who has totally changed my life and that of hundreds of people throughout Quebec. Through his love of life, his smile, his charisma and his talent ... I love you my friend.”

Stéphane Bolduc, 37, and Karine Champagne, 36

A salesman for a local car dealership, Stéphane Bolduc was celebrating his 37th birthday at the Musi-Café with girlfriend of 10 months, Karine Champagne. Champagne, who had two sons from a previous marriage, did not usually enjoy going to bars but made an exception in honour of the occasion.

Bolduc's life had been hit by tragedy two years earlier when his previous girlfriend died of a blood clot. But things were looking up. A welder for 20 years, he loved cars and had always wanted to be an automobile salesman. That dream had come true when his friend, car-dealer Sébastien Audet hired him. Bolduc had found love again with pretty, dark-haired Champagne, who, like him, enjoyed outdoor activities and family time with her two boys. Bolduc worked out four times a week and was hardworking and self-disciplined, Audet said. He was proud of his Bombardier Can-Am Spyder three-wheeled motorcycle and Jeep Grand Cherokee.

In Ste. Agnès church, where grieving family members and friends posted tributes on heart-shaped pieces of coloured paper, one message praised Champagne as "authentic, fair, principled, generous and (a source of) good advice."

Marie-France Boulet, 62, and Richard Veilleux, 63

The fourth of 11 children, Marie-France Boulet lived behind her lingerie shop at 5099 Frontenac St., just down the street from the Musi-Café. Members of the close-knit Boulet clan knew immediately something was amiss when they didn’t hear from her the day after the explosions.

Boulet lived behind her shop, Boutique Marie-Loup, which she took over from her sister Louise eight years ago after spending three decades in Quebec City and Montreal. The boutique’s moniker is a contraction of their two names. Outgoing and caring, Boulet was always the first one to visit a sick relative or friend in the hospital.

Always stylish and immaculately turned out, Boulet lived downstairs from her boyfriend Veilleux, a grandfather of four who would have turned 64 on July 13.

Yves Boulet, 51

Music was a passion for Yves Boulet, who played the drums in a local rock band, Lézor-Ganes. Last year, the band won first prize last year in a contest, Jam sur le Lac, at the Ariko, a local restaurant in the downtown area destroyed by the derailment. Boulet had also performed in a tribute to Rush in Lennoxville. Late Friday night, he dropped in to the Music-Café, where his friend Martin Rodrigue was working the sound system for the live concert. He has not been seen since.

Frédéric Boutin, 19

Frédéric Boutin lived in an apartment near the Musi-Café, where the majority of the victims died. Family members, including relatives in St. Catharines, Ont., feared the worst when they couldn’t contact him after the disaster. Boutin was also among seven victims whose identity was announced Saturday by the Quebec coroner.

Geneviève Breton, 28

An aspiring singing star who appeared on Star Académie in the fall of 2008, beautiful, blonde Geneviève Breton of Stornoway was studying education at the Université de Shebrooke but had not given up on her dream of a music career. She had been recording her first album when her life was cut short.

Breton was at the Musi-Café with her boyfriend the night of the tragedy. She was about to leave, but went back inside to get a bottle of water for the trip home. Just then, the train derailed and exploded in flames. Her boyfriend survived. Friends are planning a memorial concert.

Nine-year-old Bianka and 3-year-old Alyssa Charest often went with their mother, Talitha Coumi-Bégnoche, to the local convenience store to buy candy. They lived in an apartment building a stone’s throw from the railway tracks. Early Saturday, the mother and daughters were in bed when the runaway oil train hurtled into the building. Talitha’s partner, Pascal Charest, saw a ball of flames engulf the apartment block. “I would have preferred dying with them,” he told the Journal de Montréal. Hélène Bourgeous, his mother – the girls’ grandmother – told The Gazette her son called her in Sept-Îles as explosions were going on around him, sobbing: “‘Mama, I’ve lost my children.’” On Tuesday, Talitha’s sister, Nadine Bégnoche, reported the death of Talitha and her daughters on Facebook: “This is the hardest thing I’ve ever had to write ... But I wanted to give you news because many are worried ... How to announce such terrible news ... I don’t have the words.”

Sylvie Charron, 50

Sylvie Charron is among those believed to have died at the Musi-Café. The youthful grandmother worked at Village Harmonie, a local seniors’ residence, according to her Facebook page. She went to high school in East Angus, near Sherbrooke, and lived with her partner in Woburn, 28 kilometres south of Lac-Mégantic. She leaves a daughter, Cynthia Boulé, and granddaughter, Naomy, 2.

Kathy Clusiault, 24

Kathy Clusiault was asleep in an apartment upstairs from the Musi-Café when the train derailed, engulfing the building in flames. A trained massage therapist, she had been living and studying in Trois-Rivières but returned to

Lac-Mégantic, where her mother and many of her friends live. She had high hopes of building a successful massage practice when her life was cut short.

“There are no words. I’m looking but there aren’t any,” said her father, Jean Clusiault, in the Eastern Townships village of Cookshire-Eaton, 75 kilometres west of Lac-Mégantic, where he has been renovating a house. “She was very beautiful and very brilliant.”

Jean Clusiault returned to Lac-Mégantic for several days hoping for news of his daughter but none came, so he went back to the renovation project, to keep occupied.

“I can’t do anything in Lac-Mégantic. Just wait,” he said.

Clusiault said he has resigned himself to the worst. “It’s not a question of acceptance, but a question of learning to live with what’s happened,” he said, standing on the small front lawn of the house, just feet from railway tracks where the freight train had passed by a week before, headed for Lac-Mégantic.

Réal Custeau, 57

A bon vivant with a wicked sense of humour, Réal Custeau lived in an apartment near the train tracks in the district hardest hit by the disaster.

Micheline Couture, a cashier at the nearby Boni-Soir convenience store on Laval Street, recalled how Custeau, who had long, grey hair, used to pull her leg by calling her by the wrong name when he came into the store.

“He was a joker. He was always pulling a farce. He would ask for a weird number of cigarettes, like a pack of 22 instead of 25,” she said.

Friendly and always ready to do a favour, Custeau often picked up a case of beer for a neighbour, she said.

Maxime Dubois, 27

Maxime Dubois died four days before his partner, Joannie Proteau, gave birth to their first child, Anaïs, on Wednesday.

He was among the seven victims whose names were announced Saturday night.

Dubois was out for the night at the Musi-Café with three of his best friends – Éric Pépin, 28, Mathieu Pelletier, 29, and David Lacroix-Beaudoin – and Pépin’s and Dubois’partners.

Less than half an hour before the train derailed at 1:14 a.m., the women decided to go home. The men stayed on and haven’t been seen since.

“We understand, but we don’t accept it,” his mother, France Lessard, wrote on Facebook.

In the midst of their suffering, the joy of Anaïs’s birth is comforting the shattered family, Lessard wrote.

“He left us a piece of himself and he will live on in our beautiful little princess.”

Natacha Gaudreau, 41

Natacha Gaudreau, the mother of two teenagers who worked for Statistics Canada, grew up in Quebec City and attended Collège Mérici, a private CÉGEP.

Although she never touched a drop of alcohol and didn’t hang out in bars, she was among those enjoying the concert at the Musi-Café the night of the disaster.

Described as a wonderful mother, Gaudreau lived in the Fatima district of Lac-Mégantic, across the Chaudière River from the site of the derailment. She shared custody of son Édouard, 13, and daughter Estel with her ex-husband, Pierre-Luc Gagnon.

David Lacroix Beaudoin

Fit, fun-loving and full of life, David Lacroix Beaudoin moved to Lausanne, Switzerland in 2010 but never forgot the best buddies he grew up with in Lac-Mégantic.

He was on vacation back in his hometown, where he was staying with his parents, when he joined friends Maxime Dubois, 27, Éric Pépin, 28, and Mathieu Pelletier, 29, for a night out at the Musi-Café.

Beaudoin, who was married to a Québécoise, Élise Couture, installed cellular-telephone networks in Lausanne, said Pascal Pellicer, 49, a native of France who played hockey with Beaudoin in the south of France and the Czech Republic. Pellicer now lives in Quebec City.

Energetic and always ready to lend a helping hand, Beaudoin renovated the home of a fellow Quebecer living in Lausanne, said Pellicer, who helped out on the job. He also volunteered as a hockey coach in Lausanne.

No family has been more devastated by the tragedy than that of prominent local businessman Raymond Lafontaine, who has emerged as an articulate voice for the anguish and anger felt by residents of Lac-Mégantic.

Lafontaine’s son Gaétan and Gaétan’s wife, Joanie Turmel, died in the inferno at the Musi-Café, along with Raymond’s other daughter-in-law Karine Lafontaine, and Marie-Noëlle Faucher, a secretary at the family excavation company, Groupe Exca.

The occasion was a 40th birthday party for Gaétan’s sister, Josée. Karine was married to Pascal Lafontaine, one of five siblings, four of whom worked in the family business. Turmel was a gifted artist who had a graphics business.

When the train derailed and exploded, setting fire to the crowded café, brother Christian Lafontaine escaped while the others were trapped inside. Gaétan, who was just outside, rushed back in to save Joanie but perished in the attempt.

The École d’Entrepreneurship de Beauce paid tribute to Gaétan as an outstanding graduate of its academy. “Bon vivant, honest, always smiling, brave, Gaétan is the model for the new generation of family businessmen. We miss him already,” the school said in a statement.

According to his profile at EEB, Lafontaine was passionate about sailing, boating, kayaking, volleyball, basketball and travel.

He listed his top ambition as “spending time with his family” and his personal mantra was “no pain, no gain.”

Joanie and Gaétan leave two children, as does Faucher.

Jo-Annie Lapointe, 20, and Andrée-Anne Sévigny, 26

Friendly, dark-haired Jo-Annie Lapointe was a waitress at the Musi-Café. Remembered by friends as always smiling, Lapointe, who was about 20 years old, was the daughter of a machine-shop owner in Lambton, a hamlet 43 kilometres north of Lac-Mégantic. She had lived in Quebec City and was planning to move to Sherbrooke.

Sévigny was working to put herself through CÉGEP after returning to her studies with the goal of becoming a nurse. She loved Zumba fitness classes and had recently moved in with her boyfriend of one year.

Henriette Latulippe

Henriette Latulippe, a manicurist who worked at a body-piercing and nail salon on downtown Frontenac St., was described by local residents as warm, down-to-earth and genuine. When the trail derailed, Latulippe, who was about 60, was probably asleep in her home on Frontenac between the salon and the Musi-Café.

David Martin and Michel Guertin, Jr.

Michel Guertin Jr., loved snowmobiling, vintage Mustangs and Johnny Cash. The father of two worked at the local Masonite door factory. Guertin was the only son of Colette Poirier, who posted news of his disappearance on Facebook. His father, Michel Sr., has a butcher shop in the nearby village of Marston.

Friends posted messages of support to his parents and partner, Sandy Bédard. “Be strong for your children, we’re thinking of you,” said one.

Guertin is believed to have died at the Musi-Café with David Martin, a close friend and colleague at the Masonite plant.

Roger Paquet, 61

Roger Paquet was a neighbour of Éliane Parenteau- Boulanger, 93, the first known victim of the disaster. He lived on boulevard des Vétérans, a picturesque lakeside street that runs beside the train track. Houses on the street were destroyed when the runaway train jumped the tracks and exploded.

Paquet worked at Energex, a wood-pellet factory. An avid golfer, Paquet was an active volunteer at the local golf club. He was asleep upstairs in bed when the train hit. However, tenants who rented the ground floor of the building from Paquet did manage to get out.

Mathieu Pelletier, 29

High school math teacher and former junior hockey prospect Mathieu Pelletier grew up in Saint-Louis-du-Ha-Ha, a village of 1,400 in the Lower St. Lawrence region, between Rivière-du-Loup and Edmunston, N.B.

At age 19, he was awarded a full hockey scholarship to Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan, which competes in the NCAA Division I. But he pined for home and quit to return to Quebec.

Pelletier, who had taught for five years at the Polyvalente Montignac, where residents displaced by the disaster are now being housed, was a new father whose wife is from Lac-Mégantic.

Last summer, he organized a summer hockey school for 79 local players between age 5 and 13 and was on track to increase registration to 100 at this year’s edition from Aug. 11-16.

He was among a group of friends who have not been seen since spending Friday night together at the Musi-Café.

Éric Pépin, 28

On Saturday, July 6, Éric Pépin was planning to head out into the bush with Jocelyn Breault, 50, a convenience-store manager who had been friends with Pépin and his father, Clément, for years. But Pépin, a construction worker, was among a group of friends who perished at the Musi-Café. Pépin’s girlfriend, Sabrina, was tired and left the restaurant 15 minutes before the derailment. It was their final farewell. Pépin always had a ready smile, Breault said. “If I wanted to choose the perfect son, it would be him: conscientious, detail-oriented, always ready to lend a helping hand,” he said.

Jimmy Poulin

An introvert who seemed to live in his own, quiet bubble, Jimmy Poulin was a resident of the downtown district hardest hit by the derailment. Local residents have not seen Poulin, who was in his early 20s, since the disaster.

Marianne Poulin and Keven Roy

Marianne Poulin and Keven Roy didn’t have much, but they had each other. Poulin, a gentle, shy girl in her mid-20s, was inseparable from Roy, a troubled man of about 30 who struggled with drug addiction. Residents of an apartment building near the train tracks, they were a familiar sight on the town’s main drag.

Martin Rodrigue

Martin Rodrigue of Sainte-Cécile de Whitton, a village 15 minutes north of Lac-Mégantic, worked as a stonemason at a granite quarry. He attended high school in Lac-Mégantic and was working as a sound technician at the Musi-Café the night of the disaster.

Rodrigue, who was in his mid to late 40s, learned his trade from his father, said his cousin Alain Rodrigue, a co-owner of the quarry, MDP Lac-Drolet, which makes kitchen counters and tombstones. He never married and lived alone in the family homestead.

A hard-rock fan, Rodrigue enjoyed playing the guitar and was friends with several musicians. He loved hunting and was an avid hockey fan.

Jean-Pierre Roy, 52

Carol-Anne Roy posted a tribute on Facebook to her “petit papa d’amour” on Tuesday. “I still can’t believe it!” she wrote. “You left too fast! You, who was so generous to others! You would have done anything for your children! You will remain in our hearts forever. I will remember your smile, your sense of humour and your great old jokes! We’re going to need them!! I love you so much.”

Roy, a father of three, was on a first date at Musi-Café, according to the Boston Globe. At the end of the night, he rejected a suggestion to leave, instead ordering one last beer with the woman who accompanied him.

Mélissa Roy, 29

Mélissa Roy (right) leaves a gaping hole in the lives of a wide circle of friends. Since 2001, Roy had worked at the Masonite door factory, which is Lac-Mégantic's top employer. Roy kept fit by walking regularly and had a smile that lit up her face. She was among seven victims whose identity was confirmed Saturday. The news of her death cast a pall at Garage Réjean Roy, a local recreational vehicle dealership owned by her father, who has not worked since the tragedy. In Ste-Agnès church, where grieving relatives and friends had pinned up colourful, heart-shaped notes paying tribute to the dead and missing, Roy's well-worn sneaker was on display.

Marie-Semie Alliance and Jimmy Sirois

Marie-Semie Alliance and Jimmy Sirois lived across the street from the Musi-Café with their 18-month-old daughter, Milliana. That night, they left Milliana with Sirois’s mother in Woburn, 27 kilometres south of Lac-Mégantic, because the heat was stifling in their small apartment. The tragedy leaves the child orphaned.

Élodie Turcotte, 18

Pretty, blond Élodie Turcotte had just landed her first job — as a waitress at the Musi-Café for the summer. Élodie was home in Lac-Mégantic from Sherbrooke, where she was studying to become a beautician. Her father, Richard, is a service manager in a local Mazda dealership and her mother, Christine, has a hair salon. Alerted to the disaster soon after the train struck, her parents searched all night for their daughter, to no avail.

Lucie Vadnais

Lucie Vadnais is fondly remembered for her love and kindness by local parents whose children she minded at the daycare centre run by her sister, Sylvie. She lived in the picturesque Baie-des-Sables area of Lac-Mégantic, known for its beaches and campgrounds. Vadnais was not a regular at the Musi-Café, so friends are puzzled by why she was among those who died at the popular night spot.

Jean-Guy Veilleux

Motorcycles, fishing and all-terrain vehicles were among the passions of Jean-Guy Veilleux, who lived in an apartment building near the train tracks, in the district devastated by the derailment. Like Réal Custeau, another resident of the district, he has not been seen since July 6.

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